Red Dwarf– Body Swap Review

By Will Barber

Rimmer: Have you ever been in a dissection  class and held up a frog by its head? You know the way its belly sort of sticks out above its spindly little legs? Well, that’s the picture I see when you get down from the bunk in the morning.

After Red Dwarf nearly blows up, Rimmer convinces Lister that he needs to lose weight and the best way to do that is to mind swap with him. When Lister agrees and Rimmer’s mind goes into Lister’s body and Lister’s mind goes into Rimmer’s body, things very soon start to go wrong. Rimmer goes on the run with Lister’s body. Lister, the Cat and Kryten chases Rimmer in a desperate attempt to save Lister’s body from getting damaged or worse, destroyed.

Like my previous review, this is a look at one of the classic episodes of the series and like Timeslides is a real treat to watch. The lip syncing between Chris Barrie and Craig Charles is sometimes good and sometimes not, though it is rather funny. It may have worked better if the actors had simply impersonated one another rather than lip syncing which sometimes made it obvious that the actors were not speaking their own lines. It seems a shame that lip syncing was needed as Barrie is a great impressionist. The main body of the story is fun though, with the plot and funniness of the lines taking away the slight hit and miss quality of the lip syncing.

Chris Barrie once again triumphs in this episode of Red Dwarf. His madness increases throughout the episode, from getting Kryten to chloroprene Lister so that he can steal his body, to going on the run from the rest of the cast in an escape pod. Barrie’s performance, even though slightly deflated due to the lip syncing, still comes on top. His vocal performance of madness shines through even though he is not doing the body movement to go with it. Top marks to someone who truly is a great actor.

The graphics in the episode, particularly towards the end when we see the spaceship chase, are excellently done and demonstrates why Red Dwarf is famous for its model shots.

This episode shows why Red Dwarf is loved: its great acting; pretty good model shots and a rather nice dollop of fun and silliness. I cannot wait for the new series coming soon to Dave, especially if it is anything like this episode.